Multi-store model

Question 1

What does the Multi-store model show? Who created it?

Answer 1

Atkinson and Shiffrin developed the model which suggests that memory is made up of three separate unitary stores where information flows through in a fixed linear order.

Question 2

Explain how the sensory register works,
include sensory stores

Answer 2

There are two main stores, there are separate sensory registers for each sense: the iconic store codes visual information and the echoic store codes auditory information. Environmental stimuli passes through the sensory organs into the register. If this information is payed attention to, then it moves into the STM.

Question 3

What are the features of the sensory register?

Answer 3

Capacity- high
Duration- less that 1/2 a second

Question 4

Outline the STM store

Answer 4

Information stays in the STM for 30 seconds before it is transferred to the LTM. Maintenance rehearsal keeps information in the STM (rehearsal loop)

Question 5

Outline the LTM store

Answer 5

Permanent memory store holding information for prolonged time. In order to recall information, it must be transferred to the STM for ‘retrieval’

Question 6

1. Support for the MSM
   (HM)

Answer 6

Evidence to support the separate stores:
Patient HM suffered brain damage, his STM remained intact, however his LTM did not. This shows that they are separate stores as they were affected differently.

Question 7

2. Criticism for the MSM
   (Flashbulb)

Answer 7

Evidence to reject emphasis on rehearsal:
Brown and Kulik discovered flashbulb memories where which can be stored in the LTM with no rehearsal. This contradicts the importance placed by the MSM on rehearsal which decreases the validity of the MSM.